Synopses & Reviews
Gary Dyer breaks new ground by surveying and interpreting hundreds of satirical poems and prose narratives published in Britain during the Romantic period. These works have been neglected by literary scholars, satisfied that satire disappeared in the late eighteenth century. Dyer argues that satire continued to be a major and widely-read genre, and that contemporary political and social conflicts gave new meanings to conventions inherited from classical Rome and eighteenth-century England. He includes a bibliography of more than 700 volumes containing satirical verses.
Review
"...Gary Dyer's British Satire and the Politics of Style, 1789-1832 makes a much needed contribution to our sense of the period." Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900"Dyer's book is an important beginning to a needed reappraisal of Romantic satire. His mapping of the field establishes benchmarks from which future studies will profit." David A. Kent, Romantic Circles Reviews"...a convincing case for the ongoing importance of Johnson's example as an access to central issues in eighteenth-century studies." Helen Deutsch, Modern Philology"Every student of the period will fond something to discover in this list, and anyone who has worked along the fringes of the Romantic Canon will appreciate the hard work and scrupulous scholarship it represents." Wordsworth Circle
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 198-250) and index.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements; Note on the text; Introduction; 1. The scope of satire, 1789-1832; 2. The modes of satire and the politics of style; 3. The meaning of Radical verse satire; 4. Peacock, Disraeli, and the satirical prose narrative; 5. Satire displaced, satire domesticated; Notes; Works cites; A select bibliography of British satirical verse, 1789-1832; Index.